Maintaining the integrity of the earth and root system of a tree within a balled end thereof is important to successful transplantation particularly if the transplantation occurs after a substantial period of time elapsed following the formation of the balled end and/or the balled tree is to be transported to a remote location. The ball of earth protects the roots from damage thereby increasing the transplantation success rate. Heretofore the ball of earth was customarily wrapped in burlap and then placed in a container having specific dimensions. In many instances the aforementioned containers were wire baskets having preformed shapes. In such a situation it was necessary that the ball of earth be contoured so as to properly fit within the wire basket. While the shape of the wire basket may be manually changed to a limited extent, it was customary and practical nevertheless to utilize a variety of baskets to accommodate earth balls of different sizes and shapes. As the size and shape of the earth ball depended in large measure on the size of the tree to be transplanted and the type of digging tool used, a wide variety of basket styles was required to be inventoried by the nurseryman. Furthermore, the wire baskets and similar containers were bulky and not collapsible and thus required a large storage area. The wire baskets and burlap wrap normally remained with the transplanted tree after planting thereby adding to the cost of the transplantation. Various rope structures were sometimes utilized to bind the burlap wrap to the earth ball. However, such structures were frequently time consuming to produce, were awkward to manipulate at the job site and required an inordinate amount of manual labor to properly apply the structure to the exterior of the earth ball.